


The Rent Was Cheap

by Xuric



Category: Marvel, Marvel (Comics), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Adventure, Friendship, Gen, Inhumans (Marvel), Mystery, Original Character(s), Roommates, Science Fiction, Spider-Man is best bro, Superpowers, Unusual Superpower
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-25
Updated: 2020-05-25
Packaged: 2021-03-03 03:14:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,207
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24377815
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Xuric/pseuds/Xuric
Summary: $700 a month for penthouse apartment room in Central NYC? Bills included?! I know there has to be a catch.But how can I pass this up?





	The Rent Was Cheap

When your Monday morning starts with Spider-Man crashing through your living room windows, you know it's only going downhill from there.

My scream is only just covered by the sound of my cereal bowl hitting the floor. I watch our monthly insurance payments rocket up as a shower of broken glass and torn pieces of Spider-Man's costume rain down on the once-white rug. Who - or _what_ \- ever Spidey is fighting isn't in my line of sight, but whatever it was has left Spidey - and subsequently _our living room_ covered in a thin layer of purple slime.

"Sorry!" he yells as he bounces off our coffee table. The glass shatters under the blow, even as he flips backwards and lands against the wall. It's too late for our TV, which keens over with a slow, echoing groan before it hits the floor with a _thud_ that reverberates painfully.

"Really sorry!" Spider-Man says. He flicks out both of his arms and webs shoot out, landing against our living room walls with a wet _splat._ "Wish I could help pay for damages, but I really can't!"

He launches himself out of the broken mess of our windows. The way his masked eyes widen as he realises what he's said is a depressingly hilarious way to start my morning. I'm certain I hear him stutter in an attempt to say _something_ before he zips out of our living room at a speed that makes my head hurt. Shards of glass and discarded pieces of paper flutter in the air, twirling slowly to a sad, solemn tune that only they can hear.

A piece of webbing lands in the remains of my cereal with a wet _plop_. I drop my spoon onto the kitchen counter, beside the scattered Lucky Charms and just sigh.

"Can I just crawl back into bed and pretend today isn't happening?"

Priya laughs as she hands me a steaming cup of coffee and takes a seat beside me. "And now you understand why the rent here is so cheap."

"Yeah," I say, staring at the hole in what were once sliding French doors. Without them there, the screaming of New York's constant traffic penetrates our penthouse sanctuary. SIrens in the distance scream like a newborn demanding attention. The smell of smog and car fumes drift up, intermingling with the constant weed fumes that our downstairs stoner neighbours seem to spray like air freshener, creating an unholy concoction that turns my stomach and kills what little appetite I had left.

"Google says they dissolve in an hour," Priya says. She puts her phone down to tie her long, black hair up in a loose ponytail before grabbing her phone again. "But that's if they're his standard ones." She sighs as she drops her phone again. It hits the counter with a dull thud that explains the many, _many_ cracks on its screen.

"Hot water, soap, bleach, vinegar and more bleach was what my grandma always used," I say. I laugh at Priya's raised eyebrow before taking a long sip of my coffee and starting to pick up the broken remains of what was once my breakfast. "Shit neighbourhood. Shitter schools," I say as I toss the remains of the bowl into the trash. "A few years back Spidey was zipping around, grabbing gang members that seemed to exclusively come out of my baby cousin's school." I shrug as I grab a dustpan and brush to grab the remaining splinters of the bowl, whilst Priya helps by grabbing a dish sponge and cleaning the seeping milk spillage. "She said she had to learn how to get rid of them herself, or wait for Damage Control to de-web her car from the sidewalk." I snort when we finish cleaning and return to my coffee. "One time she caught him in the act. Threw her walking stick at him and gave him an earful as she made him scrub it off her car."

Priya laughs as she takes her seat beside me. " _That_ was your grandma? I remember seeing that on Twitter. Damn, the Brushheads loved that one."

"Brushheads and _all_ of the gangs Spidey had beef with," I say, shaking my head as I laugh. "Grandma loved that she'd gotten famous overnight, but she loved having all these gang members at her beck and call. They had all the problems she could ever want to fix, my baby cousin suddenly never had to worry about being bullied again and most importantly for her, she suddenly had young men willing to do whatever she wanted."

"She sounds like fun," Priya says. She sighs as she checks her watch. "Right, I need to make a move if I don't want to be late for work. Apparently super-shenanigans aren't a reasonable excuse for being late for work. My boss sucks." She stands and forces a scarily false smile onto her face. "In related news, the sky is blue and water is wet."

"Yeah I'm heading out now too," I say, grabbing my wallet from atop the fridge. "I'll leave a note on the front door for the others. Fun thing to come home from the night shift to. You wanna arrange the insurance agent?"

She laughs. "You know it." The sadistic glee in her face is something that would make me feel sorry for anyone else, but insurance agents almost have it coming. "Oh, don't forget the hundred bucks on the fridge, we need to grab cleaning stuff." She downs the rest of her coffee and tucks her phone into her bra. "You mind getting that? You'll be home before me, right?"

"Sure," I say. I grab the bill from the fridge and follow Priya out the front door. Before leaving I make sure that the note is at eye-level, although the fact that it's on bright red paper should be eye-catching enough.

' _Spidey happened. Living room is a warzone. Priya will make another insurance agent cry :)'_

The elevator door _dings_ behind me. I take a breath as I walk through our glass main corridor to the elevator and try not to get distracted by the sights outside. Should have told her to go ahead, that way I could take the stairs without judgement. Should have-

"Come on," Priya says. She's got her finger on the button to hold the doors open and her hand on the doors in an attempt to stop them from closing. "I don't have all day."

"Sure," I say. I take a breath and force myself to cross over the threshold.

The doors close.

I'm trapped. I can't see outside properly. Everything is dull, muted. I breathe in and feel the gas invading my lungs again. It's impossible to breathe.

I need air. I need to get out. I need-

"I'm fine," I growl under my breath, more for myself than anyone else. Priya glances my way but I shake my head. It's fine, I can deal. It's just an elevator. I deal with this every day. I took this apartment to get over this fear. I can do this.

I should have taken the stairs.

My breathing is getting quicker. I'm not getting as much air. The floors aren't going down fast enough. I'm going to be trapped again, locked in and never knowing when I'm going to escape. Then everything will change and then-

The doors open and it's like oxygen fills the room once more. I throw myself out of the doors. I'm sweating, breathless. Even though I'm hot there's an icy chill that's settled in my stomach.

"Jamie," Priya says. I can feel her hand on my arm and my back. She's guiding me towards the foyer and the nearest couch. I drop like my strings have been cut and feel like I'm drowning in the white velvet couch. "Jamie, come on, you're okay."

"Mmh," I grunt. I rub my face and I'm surprised to feel the wetness around my eyes. "I'm not okay," I say.

"Hey, hey, don't worry," she says, and suddenly she's hugging me. "You know what? Screw work. I'll call in sick. We'll do something together. We can sit here for as long as you need."

"I'll be fine," I say. "I just need to get outside. Fresh air helps." I hug her back, squeezing as tightly as I can dare before letting her go. She smells like a strange mixture of cinnamon and some kind of perfume that's strangely nostalgic. "Your perfume's nice." I hear just how absurd what I've said is and start laughing. "I'll be fine. Go to work. I'll be alright once I'm outside."

She nods as she slowly lets go of me. "You'll call me if you need me, right?"

"I'll think about it," I answer. "I'll probably just take the stairs again."

She squeezes my hand as she stands up. "Alright then, let's get you outside." She gives me no choice in the matter, sliding her hand underneath my arm and dragging me to my feet.

I nod as I stand, dimly aware of the way the concierge is slowly putting down a phone. I ask myself briefly just how out of it I was to not notice my surroundings before realising how stupid a question it is.

The outside air hits me like a tonne of bricks. I nearly choke on the mixture of smog and frying onions, but the air tastes amazing.

"I'm good," I say, sucking in a deep breath as I stand up fully. The sidewalk is filled with people that are more intent on walking through us than around us. We have to shuffle off to the side, huddled by the door to our apartment just to avoid the people that don't acknowledge our existence. "Really," I say. "I just don't like being reminded of-"

"It's alright," Priya cuts me off, hugging me once again.

"I just need my routine," I tell her, between ragged breaths. I laugh, more out of nerves and embarrassment than anything else. "I knew this was gonna happen when I took that room, but damn the rent's just too good to pass up."

Priya's smiling as she squeezes the tops of my arms. "Alright, if you're sure you'll be okay on your own, I'll go to work, but call me the moment you need me."

I nod and say nothing as she leaves me. I stay rooted to the spot for at least another ten minutes, waiting until Priya has headed to the subway. She glances back at me constantly, worry very clearly etched on her face.

Once I'm certain she's gone into the 9th Street Station, I take another breath and slide my hand into my pants pocket. The Benjamin is in there, tucked beneath my wallet.

I slide my other hand into my other pocket and with the briefest of thoughts, an identical bill appears in my other hand.

I glance around. I'm just as invisible in the crowd as I ever was. No one saw anything and no one knows any better. I smile to myself before pushing myself off the side of my apartment building and heading out into the world.

The nearest 7/11 is only two blocks away, but I'm not in the mood to deal with the stairs back to my apartment, and especially not ready for the elevator back up. The best thing for me is exactly what I told Priya I need to do - get on with my routine.

So I go about what I had planned for my day in the first place. The gym is my first stop and thankfully, it's not busy. I'm only ten minutes early for my PT, but I grab my phone at the moment he texts to cancel on me - apparently his bus made the mistake of driving through an ongoing battle between Daredevil and some ninjas.

Given that Jack is one of the few people I've met blessed with absolutely zero imagination, it just means there's yet another thing to look out for today.

Times like this are when I question my decision to move to New York.

As much as I want to use the excuse not to exercise, I'm already here. The smell of stale sweat and cheap plastic isn't something that people want to smell, but it reminds me that I'm still part of the world and not trapped.

My feet are slamming down on the treadmill and my breath is short before too long. I can feel the sweat racing down my back and sticking to my face. Though the treadmills are opposite a wall of mirrors, I've managed to grab the one that's hidden from view by a large metal pillar. I've tried exercising in front of the mirror before and I do _not_ need to deal with my exercising face, thank-you-very-much.

It does, however, let me see that I've caught the attention of some red-headed eye candy. His arms and legs are toned and he's racing across the treadmill effortlessly, putting me and the others struggling with running to shame.

I turn my head to look, but he looks away sharply. Our game continues a handful more times before I finally catch his eyes and smile.

Instead of moving over, sweeping me off my feet, pressing me against the pillar and getting to know me intimately, he just looks away, focuses on the television screens above the mirrors and purposely avoids looking at me again.

As much as I want to push myself to show off, I feel like me tripping, faceplanting the treadmill and subsequently zooming into the wall isn't something that gets you a date outside of a romcom. So instead I put him out of my mind and carry on with my workout.

It's only when I'm done showering and half-way through changing that I think of him again. I try my best to find him on every dating app I've got on my phone, but no joy.

Instead, like the crazy I am, I end up finding someone online who looks vaguely similar and arrange things with him.

One less-than-average hookup later, I'm grabbing a coffee from a cart outside Washington Square Park and questioning my life decisions. It's only by chance that I actually look up from my phone as I'm waiting for my order, and I see an Asian woman glancing my way, though her eyes are shielded by aviator shades.

She runs a hand down the green streak in her hair and brushes it away from her black lipstick covered lips. I give her the briefest, most awkward of smiles as an acknowledgement before grabbing my coffee order and cutting through the park. A glance at my phone tells me I've still got twenty minutes before the next raid starts, and so far it looks promising.

Still waiting on my shiny Mew raid. Hopefully this one delivers - and more hopefully it doesn't also end up with a bunch of knuckleheads turning up and trying to mug people for their phones.

Again.

I take a sip of my latte and try to enjoy the sounds of birds that barely filter through the ambient background chatter of people's conversations and heavy traffic. Everything is more or less the same as any other given day out and about in the city, except I become increasingly aware that something isn't right.

I notice that the same Asian woman who was behind me in the queue for the coffee stand is still some distance behind me. I tell myself that I'm being paranoid, but the way she keeps leaning into her collar and moving her mouth just makes me feel with adrenaline in the worst kind of ways.

I try to ignore it. Focus on my surroundings instead. I grab a seat on an empty nearby bench and wait for her to pass me. She walks past without even looking my way.

The brown-haired couple sitting on the grass have been looking at me more often than they've been looking at each other. Both of them are wearing the same type of sunglasses that the Asian woman is.

 _Coincidence_ , I try to tell myself.

It's almost enough, until I see the ginger eyecandy pass by Aviator Asian lady.

 _Nope._ I'm on my phone and ordering the closest Lyft to the furthest possible place I can afford. Once is a normal event. Twice is bordering creepy. Three times in these modern times means that something's up.

I'm rushing to my Lyft before it's even told me where it's parking up for me. The app tells me it's a black Tesla Model X, but that's less than helpful. My knowledge of cars is that they're meant to have four wheels and go _vrrm_. I'm wasting time as I try to match the licence plates. I glance over my shoulder. Can't see the eye candy. The happy couple have started walking through the park. I see them glance my way.

" _Fuck_ ," I hiss. My hands are shaking. I fumble my phone and my heart drops out my asshole when I nearly drop it on the ground.

The honking of a horn makes me nearly shit myself. I rush across the sidewalk to the street, past the nearest taxi and by some stroke of luck, my Lyft is right behind it.

"Hey," I say as I slide in the back. "How's it going today?" My voice is shaking, but that doesn't matter. Have to pretend to be calm. Can't let them think anything is up. Do not need them hitting the panic button and having the cops or S.H.I. . or whoever else decide to swoop down.

"Trust me," my driver says, laughing a little. My first impression of her is that she's short, with her seat pushed closer to the steering wheel than anyone else I know. She glances over the top of her sunglasses to look back at me in the mirror. "You wouldn't believe the day I've had."

"That makes two of us," I say with a laugh. I slide back into my seat and glance quickly at her taxi licence, framed and stuck up for passengers to see. The name Melinda May rings no bells, so it makes me relax that little bit more. "My day started with Spidey flying through my window and ruining my breakfast. That's been the least stressful part of my morning."

She hums a laugh as she starts the engine. She's pulling away from the sidewalk and I feel my heart rate return back to normal.

Then the back door opens and in slides the same Asian lady from before. The moment she closes the door behind her, the locks engage in the car.

I flinch backwards and try my best to get out of the car. Nothing happens. I slam my elbow against the window and it does nothing more than bounce off.

"Jamie Thomas?" Her voice says it's a question, but with the way that her and the driver are staring at me, it feels like more of an accusation. She pulls off her sunglasses to reveal heavy smokey makeup and a scar that curls around her left eye, like a crescent moon. "My name is Daisy Johnson. We need to talk."

**Author's Note:**

> Real life has been getting real and I've found myself wanting to write anything less and less. I've been getting back into things lately, and working on new ideas is helping me with old ones, as counterintuitive as that may sound. I've been thinking about this idea here and there - it started off as something completely different, then was a Gamer fic for a hot minute until I finally settled with this. I've got ideas of where I want it to go, so hopefully it's interesting enough to keep people reading.
> 
> I'll jump in here before the inevitable questions - it's taking influences and keys from most Marvel media, but it's not set in one that we know of.
> 
> Let me know your thoughts! :)


End file.
